The inspiration for this book came from our ten years of journeys and wanderings through the varied landscapes of Arabia, and in particular through those of its hospitable southeastern corner, Oman. We owe a particular debt to Sultan Qaboos University, which during this time has provided us with both a stimulating working environment and a home. Transliteration of Arabic place and other names into English script is a task fraught with difficulties. We have followed 'accepted' spellings wherever these were not contrary to our common sense, and in other cases we have rendered names into Roman English script using phonetic spellings. Our main task in this respect was to ensure conformity between the fIfteen contributing authors. Diacritical signs have mostly been avoided, since their use is neither widely followed nor readily understood. Arabic words which have been commonly taken into the English language, such as 'sabkha' for a salt flat and 'wadi' for a valley with a seasonal watercourse, are not italicised in usage. However, other Arabic terms which are occasionally used in English but not as widely known, such as harrah for a basaltic lava fIeld and hima for a traditional grazing reserve, are italicised throughout the text.

Water is a paramount factor in determining the distribution of species on a global basis. The responses and adaptations of a species to water stress are critical for its success in any environmental niche. The deserts of the Middle East provide an excellent example of the harsh conditions to which plants are subjected. This volume elucidates the adaptations of these plants in order to sustain their life and reproduce to continue their survival. Topics covered include climate aridity and topographic influence on plant life in the deserts, the role of plants in the lives of the Bedouins, the concept of adaptation, its purposes and causes, adaptations that promote increased water uptake and reduction of water output, as well as those which help the plants to tolerate and/or resist the drought, escaping drought and adaptation to desiccation, and the mechanisms by which halophytes can tolerate and/or resist salinity.

A history of the most profitable company in the world, Saudi Aramco, and the story behind the family that ruthlessly maneuvered to control this multi-trillion dollar enterprise. The Saudi royal family and Aramco leadership are, and almost always have been, motivated by ambitions of long-term strength and profit. They use Islamic law, traditional ideology, and harsh justice to maintain stability and their own power, but underneath the thobes and abayas and behind the religious fanaticism and illiberalism lies a most sophisticated and ruthless business enterprise. Today, that corporation is poised to pull off the biggest IPO in history. Over more than a century, fed by ambition and oil wealth, al Saud, as the royal family is known, has come from next to nothing to rule as absolute monarchs, a contrast with the world around them and modernity itself. The story starts with Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdul Aziz, a lowly refugee embarking on a daring gambit to reconquer his family's ancestral home?the mud-walled city of Riyadh. It takes readers almost to present day, when the multinational family business has made al Saud the wealthiest family in the world and on the cusp of a new transformation. Now al Saud and its family business, Aramco, are embarking on their most ambitious move: taking the company public and preparing the country for the next generation.

Landscape Design with Plants, Second Edition focuses on landscape architecture. The book first discusses trees in the countryside. Adaptation to locality, self-town vegetation, designs for both short-term and long-term effect, ecological planting, and plant associations are described. The text looks at planting for forestry. The need for afforestation; forest habitat; scale of the forest mosaic; and woodlands as visual elements in the landscape are considered. The book puts emphasis on trees in urban areas, shrubs and groundcover, and herbaceous plants and bulbs. The text also focuses on water plants. The use of water plants in garden design, aquatic communities, and historical background are discussed. The book underscores the use and management of plant species native to Britain in landscaping; urban landscape and roof gardens; and how to transplant semi-mature trees. The text also describes reclamation and planting of industrial and urban wastelands; landscaping of reservoir margins; and the relationship of plants and air pollution. The book also puts emphasis on the use of vegetation in slope stabilization; planting in tropical lowland areas; planting in hot, arid climates; and the functional use of Australian plants. The selection is a must for readers interested in landscaping.

Marine plants such as algae (blue-green algae and seaweeds), seagrasses, mangrove plants, salt-tolerant or salt-loving plants (halophytes) and coastal sand dune plants are known to generate approximately 70% of oxygen on earth, and help regulate oxygen in the atmosphere. These plants are potential sources of nutrients and are also considered valuable for the development of new drugs owing to their unique bioactive compounds. This book provides the taxonomy, common name, global distribution, habitat, diagnostic features and pharmaceutical compounds (along with their activities) of 400 species of marine plants, accompanied by high quality illustrations. Biology and Ecology of Pharmaceutical Marine Plants is the first comprehensive book of its kind written by scientists from both the Marine Biology and Pharmacy disciplines to fill the long-felt need for a marine natural products book devoted exclusively to plants. It should be a standard reference for students, researchers and teachers of disciplines such as Pharmacy, Fisheries Science, Marine Biology, Life Sciences, Biotechnology and Biochemistry, as well as a valuable guide for pharmaceutical companies involved in the development of new drugs from marine plants.

A walk in the woods makes it easy to understand the awe and reverence our ancestors had for trees. It speaks to something deep and primal within us-something we don't hear as often as we should. By exploring a variety of mysteries and traditions of trees, Whispers from the Woods helps readers get reacquainted with the natural world and find their place in the earth's rhythm. Covering more than just Celtic Ogham and tree calendars, this book includes meditation, shamanic journeys, feng shui, spellcraft, and ritual. In addition, it has a reference section with detailed information on fifty trees, which includes seasonal information, lore, powers, attributes, and more. Finalist for the Coalition of Visionary Resources Award for Best Wiccan/Pagan Book

The Sahara is the quintessence of isolation, epitomizing both remoteness and severity of environment unlike any other place on the face of the earth. Replete with myths and fictions, it is a wild land, dotted with oases and camel trains trudging through sand dunes that roll like the waves on a sea, as far as the distant horizon. But this is just part of the picture. The largest desert in the world, the Sahara ranges from the river Nile running through Egypt and Sudan in the east, to the Atlantic coast from Morocco to Mauritania in the west; stretching from the Atlas Mountains and the shores of the Mediterranean in the north, to the fluid Sahelian fringe that delineates the desert in the south. Invaders and traders have come and gone for millennia, but the Sahara is also the place that some people call home. While larger than the United States, this vast area contains only three million people. Africans and Arabs, Berber and Bedu, Tuareg and Tebu. Eamonn Gearon explores the history, culture and terrain of a place whose name is familiar to all, but known to few.

The first major synthesis of African archaeobotany in decades, this book focuses on Paleolithic archaeobotany and the relationship between agriculture and social complexity. It explores the effects that plant life has had on humans as they evolved from primates through the complex societies of Africa, including Egypt, the Buganda Kingdom, southern African polities, and other regions. With over 30 contributing scholars from 12 countries and extensive illustrations, this volume is an essential addition to our knowledge of humanity’s relationship with plants.

The efficient management of trees and other woody plants can be improved given an understanding of the physiological processes that control growth, the complex environmental factors that influence those processes, and our ability to regulate and maintain environmental conditions that facilitate growth. Emphasizes genetic and environmental interactions that influence woody plant growth Outlines responses of individual trees and tree communities to environmental stress Explores cultural practices useful for efficient management of shade, forest, and fruit trees, woody vines, and shrubs

Large parts of our world are filled with plants, and human life depends on, interacts with, affects and is affected by plant life in various ways. Yet plants have not received nearly as much attention from philosophers and ethicists as they deserve. In environmental philosophy, plants are often swiftly subsumed under the categories of "all living things" and rarely considered thematically. There is a need for developing a more sophisticated theoretical understanding of plants and their practical role in human experience. Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications aims at opening a philosophical discussion that may begin to fill that gap. The book investigates issues in plants ontology, ethics and the role of plants and their cultivation in various fields of application. It explores and develops important concepts to shape and frame plants-related philosophical questions accurately, including new ideas of how to address moral questions when confronted with plants in concrete scenarios. This edited volume brings together for the first time, and in an interdisciplinary spirit, contemporary approaches to plant ethics by international scholars of established reputation. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Philosophy and Ethics.

Handbook of Urban Landscape deals with aspects most related to architecture while, at the same time, it aims to serve the landscape profession itself. Because the field of landscape work is so wide, the present handbook is limited to urban landscape. The handbook can be used at three levels. Its technical studies and reviews form a general guide to current thought on the design of various kinds of open space; its design guide and information sheets are a daily reference for the landscape design process; and through its sources and references, readers can obtain background information or more specific guidance on particular aspects. This handbook is intended as a desk-side guide for all designers of urban space, including architects, landscape architects, planners, and engineers—and for students of these professions. It should also help to improve understanding of the work and procedures of landscape architects, so that all who use them as consultants will be better equipped to brief them.

Vegetation of the Arabian Peninsula is the first comprehensive book on all aspects of the vegetation, phytogeography and conservation of the vast and varied region of the Arabian Peninsula. Written and edited by experts on the botany and environment of the Peninsula, this book synthesises the information available on all aspects of the flora and vegetation (including lower plants), from the mountains, sand seas, coasts, water bodies and desert plains to the plants of economic importance. The book contains chapters on the vegetation, ecology and phytogeography of the mountains, wadis, sand deserts, gravel plains, coasts and sabkhas. Chapters on climate and geology provide the background information for understanding the dynamics of the vegetation. A chapter on the diversity of plants gives details of the region's species richness and endemism, current threats to plant diversity and the measures taken in the form of protected areas and legislation in each country of the Peninsula. This book will be an invaluable reference for students, scholars and professionals interested in Southwest Asian botany.

A comprehensive overview of Saudi Arabia’s environment, this volume is a unique and authoritative text on the geological and environmental aspects of Saudi Arabia, a country about which little is known by the outside world. Saudi Arabia is a fascinating country with a long tradition of environmental awareness and sensitivity, pitted against some of the harshest environments on earth. The book brings together a wide range of published and unpublished material which will be of interest to environmental scientists, geologists, geographers and biologists. A comprehensive bibliography is included. This book will be indispensable for university courses dealing with the Middle East and arid zone environments as well as various regional/environmental courses.

This advanced textbook explores the intriguing flora and plant ecology of the Middle East, framed by a changing desert landscape, global climate change, and the arc of human history. This vast region has been largely under-recognized, under-studied, and certainly under-published, due in part to the challenges posed to research by political disputes and human conflict, and a treatise on the subject is now timely. The book integrates Middle Eastern plant geography and its major drivers (geo-tectonics, seed and fruit dispersal, plant functional types, etc.) with the principles of plant ecology. The authors include the many specialized adaptations to desert and dryland ecosystems including succulence, water-conserving photosynthesis, and a remarkable range of other life history strategies. They explore the formation of 'climate relicts', and describe the long history of domestication in the region together with the many reciprocal effects of agriculture on plant ecology. The book concludes by discussing conservation in the region, highlighting five regional biodiversity hotspots where the challenges of desertification, habitat loss, and other threats to plant biodiversity are particularly acute. Plant Ecology in the Middle East is a timely synthesis of the field, setting a new baseline for future research. It will be important reading for both undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in plant ecology, evolution, systematics, biodiversity, and conservation, and will also be of interest and use to a professional audience of botanists, conservation biologists, and practitioners working in dryland ecosystems.

The intense heat and aridity of much of the Middle East may daunt the aspiring gardener, but armed with knowledge, and a little perseverance, even first-time gardeners can achieve spectacular results. Sections include: types of garden, choosing the right plant, how to ensure plant survival and growth, and the plant encyclopaedia.